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Sears Holding shares jumped this morning after the company detailed plans to spinoff a collection of profitable stores. Meantime, a piece published in Barron's magazine, which suggested Sears was undervalued, seemed to ease some investor doubts about the beleagured company.

The plan calls for Sears to divest some 1,200 stores that would become a publicly traded company and list on the Nasdaq under the "SHOS" ticker. The group of stores would include the remaining Hometown, Outlet and hardware locations. Those businesses are profitable, selling a mix of Sears' own products, from Kenmore appliances to Craftsman tools.

Spinoffs and real estate deals have become part of Sears' bid to boost investor confidence and improve its liquidity. Sears expects this spinoff to raise between $400 to $500 million. Already, Sears sold 11 stores to General Growth Properties for $270 million, and said it would spinoff a stake in its Canada division. Sears ended the first quarter with $777 million in cash with nearly $2 billion in long-term debt.

Shares of Sears rose as much as 5%. The stock settled up 4.4% at $53.67 in early afternoon trading. The holding company operates Kmart and its namesake stores, and owns several valuable brands, like Kenmore and DieHard. The stock has gained nearly 70% this year—a rally fueled by attention to liquidity and rumors that Chairman Eddie Lampert would take the company private.

Through his hedge fund, ESL Investments, and personal holdings, Lampert already controls 61% of the company. (Bruce Berkowitz, the man behind Fairholme Capital Management, retains 29.2%.) Lampert will also hold a majority stake in the spin-off.

Despite this year's rally, the stock badly lags behind the rallies seen by rivals like Target, Wal-Mart and Costco. Sears on Thursday will report second-quarter results.

Sears is also shopping Land's End, an apparel brand, bought by Lamper in 2002 for $1.8 billion. The idea that a fully liquidated Sears Holding may be worth more than the market believes plays at the center of a bullish Barron's story, written by Michael Santoli, an associate editor.

Santoli's reporting played a role in today's rally: The stock began to rise in pre-market trading, before the company announced the spinoff details. Investors seem to hope that Santoli's prediction—Sears shares are more correctly valued at $100—proves prescient. Santoli maintains that Sears is sitting on valuable real estate.

In response, Birinyi Associates analyst Spencer Traver sent a curt note to clients this morning: "We would only note that this is not the first story the paper has written about the company this year." Earlier, in January, a different Barron's writer, Jonathon R. Laing, forecast a 80% slide in Sears stock this year. (To be fair, Santoli admits Barron's had been bearish on Sears.)